KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23): Foreign selling of Malaysian equity on Bursa Malaysia widened to RM71.4 million last week from RM54.2 million the prior week, according MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd Research.

In its weekly fund flow report today, the MIDF Research Strategy team said during the four-day trading week, foreign selling occurred on each day.

"Tuesday recorded the highest attrition for the week which amounted to RM29.1 million net as investors shifted to the sidelines to seek cover before the Deepavali holiday on Wednesday.

"As the foreign net outflow persisted until Friday, the FBM KLCI took cue, resuming its gradual descent to end the week at 1,741 points, the lowest since April 20 after starting the week at a closing level of 1,754 points," it said.

The research house said it seemed that the local market was showing a muted response while markets elsewhere were showing a bullish trend amid global developments such as President Trump's tax reform progress, commendable earnings on Wall Street and upbeat Chinese economic data.

"We note that although the foreign selling in Malaysia was in conformity with its Southeast Asian peers, the benchmark index in the respective peers tend to be more resilient as compared to Malaysia," it said.

MIDF Research said the cumulative net foreign inflow into shares listed on Bursa as of last week currently stands at RM9.4 billion.

Nevertheless, it said the cumulative amount still offsets approximately 30% of the total net outflows recorded in the past three years.

The research house said foreign participation rebounded strongly as the foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) surged by a staggering 60% to reach above the RM1 billion level at RM1.27 billion, the third highest weekly amount for the year.

"On the other hand, the retail market was somewhat muted as the retail ADTV was slightly unchanged, only declining by 0.04% to RM995.3 million," it said.